I still don’t think anyone has made an amazing Superman movie, but at least Man of Steel made me believe that it’s possible.

After The Avengers and now Man of Steel, I think there needs to be a name for the phenomenon where a comic book movie attracts incredible production talent, who proceed to write some of the most inspired, creative, entertaining popcorn movie content ever created, only to be hamstrung in the end by their own nerdish worship of the weak source material. Back in writing workshop, there was a frequently repeated phrase you’d hear in critiques where people would point to the top of your piece and say “this feels like throat clearing.”

Basically, it means you had these germs of an idea or ideas at the beginning that sparked some connection in your brain that eventually lead to something so much better, and now you just need to go back and delete those half-formed origin thoughts. Man of Steel feels like Christopher Nolan and David Goyer and company were inspired by the idea of a showdown between Superman and General Zod, to create an even better story about what it means to be Superman. But in the end they just couldn’t bring themselves to cut those cables of homage to the initial inspiration. Thus we’re left with an inspiring, beautiful origin story grafted onto an anti-climactic hero/villain showdown, and all the the hackneyed tropes that go along with it.

Seriously, is there some rule I don’t know about where every superhero movie has to have a scene of the hero flying into the mouth of a giant laser pointed at Earth? Look, Drunk Randy Quaid in Independence Day is the best that scene’s ever going to get, so stop trying.

Man of Steel‘s most impressive accomplishment was to make me think, “Wow, Superman, huh? What a great story. Why hasn’t anyone been able to make an amazing movie out of this before?”

I still don’t think anyone has made an amazing Superman movie, but at least Man of Steel made me believe that it’s possible. Goyer and Zack Snyder sell the hell out of the concept, by constructing a relevant Kryptonian origin story, and dropping the hokier Superman elements that feel too campy or like relics from another time – the nerd disguise, Lex Luthor, tights under his clothes, phone booths, red underpants, the idea that the ‘S’ stood for “SUPER,” and kryptonite as a glowing red rock. All gone, and good riddance. Well, mostly gone, but we’ll get to that. (Also, they added sonic booms!) What we’re left with is a Superman who’s a product of two fathers, one for whom Superman represents the last embodiment of the squandered potential of a dead civilization, and another for whom he represents an ideal towards which a young civilization can strive, if they can be mature enough to accept him. Both fathers good men who believed so strongly in the dream their child represents that they were willing to sacrifice themselves for it. Basically, Superman represents the smartest and best of humanity, which is why he’s played by a handsome British.

If it sounds melodramatic, maybe it is, but it’s melodramatic in the best way possible. Like most good sci-fi, it uses the fantastic as a way to express the childish optimism that drives every human. To repay the sacrifices of our forebears by being faster, stronger, smarter, better, than anyone who came before us, to be invincible and live forever; the dream that maybe we can do it right this time, and realize the potential of the last 100,000 years. Isn’t that the psychological underpinning of all reproduction? Maybe I’m becoming a sentimental f*ck, but they totally sold me. I teared up more than once during the first act, which has never come even close to happening in a comic book movie before. Now, before you rightfully hang me from a locker by my underwear or beat me with socks filled with wet tampons, I should point out that a few factors contributed to this sentimentality.

First, Hans Zimmer’s score. I don’t particularly like Hans Zimmer and I don’t even really like scores, and his work in The Dark Knight Rises was so overbearing and distracting that it made half the movie feel like a music video. With Hans dialed back a little and used in the proper doses, Man of Steel is one of the best uses of score I’ve ever seen. Things like a nice score and slow motion are what a lot of film students would consider “cheating,” because they’re icing, not cake, but few directors cheat as well as Zack Snyder (forget Sucker Punch, think back to the JFK assassination scene set to Bob Dylan in The Watchmen). The tinkling music, slow motion, glowy lighting, and gently-blowing breeze combine into something magical in the early scenes of Man of Steel. There’s also something about the tanned, micro-wrinkle quilted skin on Kevin Costner’s face that evokes a strong childhood memory of sturdy farmers and the counter crowd at a small-town Perko’s. I swear to God, their skin all looked like that. Costner really looks like a kindly old farmer from the Heartland, a human John Mellencamp song. And as much crap as Russell Crowe gets for being a bloated prick, few actors can do paternal gravitas like he can. I could listen to that fat Australian piece of shit give life advice all day.

The film all but falls apart as soon as the Kryptonian fascists arrive, saved from their planet’s destruction only because they were imprisoned in a giant space jail made of flying penis pods, roaming the galaxy for thousands of years (I think? All of a sudden there was a lot of expository stuff going on). The problem, just like the problem with Star Trek 2 and Amazing Spider-Man and probably countless other comic book movies, is that the villains’ motives never quite make sense. “Realism” is a misnomer in the sense that we don’t expect a sci-fi story to be something that could actually happen or to be able to explain the specs of a warp hyper drive, but it is nice to know what the characterswant when they’re throwing trains at each other. It’s hard to be full invested otherwise. And the fights in Man of Steel are truly a landmark in lots of shit blowing up for some reason. But it was nice to know that even on Krypton, the villains have Russian bad-bitch sidekicks.

Zod just sort of shows up to kill everyone, and you wonder, why? You’re already invincible, what’s the point? And if you showed up to a planet where you could fly, have super strength, and melt steel with your eyeballs, why would you want to change it?

This fight kicks off, by the way, with Superman trying to decide whether to save the humans who don’t even believe in him while talking to a priest in a church. If you thought I was reading too much into the Jesus allusions in the trailer, wait till you see Superman deciding to save humanity framed against a giant stained-glass window of Jesus on the cross, and half a scene later fighting a Russo-Kryptonian who shouts “Evolution always wins, Kal-El!”

Guess you never met SuperJesus, bitch. (*knocks her into the sun with giant crucifix, puts Calvin praying decal on cape*)

I know they think they have to directly acknowledge the Bible because of the similarities between Jesus and Superman, but aside from the fact that Jesus allusions have already been done to death, it cheapens it. It adds nothing to Superman to allude to a lesser story. For one thing, Superman’s father is much more fleshed out than Jesus’s. Honestly, Superman is a better origin story. We don’t even know what Jesus did between when he was a baby and when he was 30. Why do you want to remind people of that?

And if Man of Steel hadn’t already ruined the amazing story it had built enough, it ends with a callback to the lamest, most outdated element of the Superman mythos.

A lot of people are going to hate Superman because of the maddeningly wasted potential, but in the end I give it credit for creating that potential with a first half that was entertaining, inspiring, earnest, heartfelt, and beautiful. And the cast is incredible, aside from this guy. Man of Steel strikes me as both a shining example of what a comic book movie can be, and a perfect reason of why a lot of people wish the talent pool comic book movies attract could be applied to something less comic booky.

im excited for this, most of the movies ive looked forward to this year didnt disappoint (iron man 3? i dont know how i feel about this yet) and this was my most anticipated. caught v/h/s 2 on monday (tons of fun, great flick) and this is the end last night (good times, more funny stuff than in the trailers). great read

Watched Superman 2 recently. Loved it as a kid, despite not realizing until now that the reason S gave up his powers was so he could fuck Lois. However, I have a problem with the facts that the advanced civilization of Krypton punished Zod et al in an incredibly inhumane (are they humans?) way, and that their CD-jail passing by Earth at the exact moment of a nuclear explosion is the unlikeliest coincidence in the history of anything, ever. His mother warns him about Zod in her Fortress of Solitude instructional video, and it’s like, lady, that is as close to impossible as any scenario that you could imagine.

I will say, more than any other superhero, Superman (and I was thinking of “Superman Returns” when I originally felt this) makes me feel all is right in the world, with a sense of return. He really is the ubermensch in as positive a connotation as that phrase can be used. I expect something very different upon hearing Superman than I do with Batman or Spiderman or any others – and I can’t really explain why.

I just rewatched The Watchmen this weekend and it’s pretty damn good for what it is (I do agree a bit heavy handed with the slo-mo). I love the backstory of Dr. Manhattan for some reason, it’s just fun to watch. That is all, this looks good too.

I have a hard time enjoying Clockmen because I could feel Snyder trying his damnedest to ape the comic, but going so over-the-top with it that it bugged the piss out of me. For example, he’d take a song that’s quoted in the comic, and play that ENTIRE song over the scene in the movie, no matter how tonally incoherent that made it.

Agreed 8Bit. I loved most of Der Clokenshpielers, but the Time Life Soundtrack moments almost ruined it (except the opening montage; that was metal). The crappy version of Hallelujah during the love scene and All Along the Watchtower while they were literally walking all along the watchtowever were pretty atrocious

Between Superman and Thor, I’ve realized that I don’t have much interest in immortal alien superheroes. It’s part of the reason Chronicle did a lot more for me than Avengers, found footage notwithstanding.

Also, doesn’t Superman kind of negate the Bible? You’d think an omniscient God would mention, “oh, btw, there’s at least one other planet with people, maybe their own messiah and so forth. So, keep your eyes open.”

Heroes *and* villains of old. There’s some supposition that the flood (Noah,etc.) was a response to the rise of the Nephilim, and was an attempt to wipe them out so that humanity could thrive once again. Some also believe that the spirits of the Nephilim lived on, and are what are thought of as “demons.”

There are a lot of viewpoints on it, and they can get very (scarily) in-depth.

Learn how to overcome your inability or decreased ability to see color, or perceive color differences, under normal lighting conditions, NERD! *laughs at, rides away on ten speed with Ace of Spades in the spokes*

Guys I really think you need to take the colorblind movement seriously and stop being so full visible spectrum-normative.

Seriously though for all the other colorblind dudes out there – have you ever punched someone for asking you what color their shirt was after you say you’re red/green colorblind? If so, can you recount it in explicit detail?

Archibald, pretty much every single time I’ve told anyone that I’m red-green coloblind. Starting when I was 17. Which was a long time ago. “What color is my shirt? So you just see grey?” And you try to explain it to them. And it turns into a whole “The Watchmen” thing.

The reason there will never be an amazing Superman film, though, is because… Superman, having no real weaknesses, is ultimately a weak character. There’s NOTHING he can’t do! And the only thing that can harm him is a fictitious bit of crystal! They had to INVENT his only vulnerability! It has always amazed me, that Superman is the most famous superhero. I mean, how much thought had to go into creating him? “Hey! I got it! How about a guy who can do EVERYTHING!” There, you’ve just created Superman in about four seconds. Give me Marvel Comics —or Batman— any day of the week.

Totally. I’ve heard, but am not certain, that he was originally supposed to “leap tall buildings” but not fly. Whoever decided to add flight to his skill set deserves a visit from the Cuntpunting Robot v2.0 Sea Lion.

Not only can he do everything, he refuses to utilize his powers to their full potential. Like, in fighting Lex Luther why wouldn’t he just grab a rock fly into space or some shit out of Lex’s range and hit him in the face with pinpoint accuracy?

“What we’re left with is a Superman who’s a product of two fathers, one for whom Superman represents the last embodiment of the squandered potential of a dead civilization, and another for whom he represents an ideal towards which a young civilization can strive, if they can be mature enough to accept him.”

Not exactly sure what you’re saying, Cullen… And was is sarcasm? Or do you really mean to say that what makes Superman an interesting character is whether Earth people can ever accept him? Hmm… Is he on Earth? Parallel Earth (since we have no Metropolis)? I’m pretty sure Earth people would never get used to having a Superman; after all, we’re still having a hard time wrapping our heads around Elvis!

And what advanced civilization can tuck a baby in a astro-bassinet with all he’ll ever need to know, aim him with pin-point accuracy toward Earth, yet not be able to save ONE more Kryptonian? Hell, WE could get a half-dozen astronauts outta here with less notice!

Vince, for me you are to film what Alan Sepinwall is to television. I always appreciate your reviews even if I don’t agree with them.

I’m going into Man of Steel expecting what I got from Batman Begins: a nice setup of a world that will be improved upon in the sequel with a couple of groan-worthy lines from David Goyer’s uh… keyboard? Pen?

Basically, Superman represents the smartest and best of humanity

Not to get too nerdy (NOT THE SOCK FILLED WITH WET TAMPONS!) but the best Superman (and Captain America stories, but I’ll get to those in a moment) emphasize that, to rip off Gene Shalit, is that what is SUPER is the MAN :twirls mustache:. In All-Star Superman #10 Superman goes to a kid who’s about to commit suicide: “You’re much stronger than you think you are. Trust me.” It’s a beautiful moment.

Thank you for understanding that Superman is so much more than his superpowers.
I watched the 1978 Superman movie this week, and a line of dialog came up that made my eyes go wide.
When Clark and Lois are being mugged, not only does Clark try to reason with the criminal instead of just fighting the guy with his superpowers, but he says, “You can’t fix the world’s problems with a gun.”
With all the terrible things that have happened this year, I think that line is even more important today, and an excellent representation of Superman’s character.

Yes, it’s a double-edged sword. It’s my fault for using my passport photo instead of springing for headshots. Maybe I’ll finally get one, wearing glasses, looking serious, in front of a shelf full of books about Fellini. That seems to be the film critic thing to do.

I’m still embargoed, but I think you’re going to like my Bling Ring review. Also, I think rottentomatoes is sorted by time, so I’m not sure “making the front page” means I’ve achieved anything. Though I’m not actually sure how it works.

Ok, we start with an overhead view of Metropolis. People are happy, life is going on normally until… WHAM! A ship crashes right into the heart of the city, knocking over skyscrapers and killing innocents and all sorts of shit. I mean, people are burning, and it’s just really f*cking sad. Then, out of nowhere, a really fast blue blur appears in the sky. Who’s that? It’s motherfucking superman, of course. He just flies in like, I’m not having this shit, and flies down to see about the ship that just crashed. Only, who is it? It’s drunken Randy Quaid from Independence Day, only now drunker and with superpowers due to being exposed to a transdimensional vortex. So they have it out, and Randy makes Supes look like a silly bitch by picking him up and nullifying his powers. It’s a lot like Rocky 3, really. Then Superman goes into hiding, training himself to hone his powers again and finding the world’s best superheroes to join him. He finds a totally hot Amazon explorer chick named Diana with huge bewbs (Wonder Woman), some little fucking asshole who plays in the sea (Aquaman), and Christian fucking Bale as Batman. Meanwhile, you see that Randy’s building a temple to himself in Metropolis, and you see his motivations are really just drunken fantasies. He’s just drinking himself into death and delusion, kind of like a hedonist Roman emperor compared to Superman’s Jesus. He also keeps mumbling on about “warlock pussy” and “flagons of space teet” because he’s fucking drunk and he’s had wild ass space parties that he thinks are still happening. (Inspiration: Drunken Nick Nolte in Warrior)

Back to Superman, he’s finally got the perfect team, but they’re still missing something, until some dude shows up in a cloak, talking about he knows Randy’s secret. Superman’s intrigued, and the dude lifts his hood to reveal… he’s will smith from independence day, come to stop Randy, an evil he sees himself as having created.

Now things are really bad. Randy’s got Lois locked up in his personal sex slave prison, and intends to do some really freaky non-consensual stuff with her. He also has an alien army at his command because he’s been in fucking space and he knows Loki. Then the final battle begins, good vs. evil, and at least one reference to “Welcome To Earth” is made by Will Smith. Superman wins, but Will Smith dies because he’s black, and Randy Quaid is sent up into space in that crazy ass mirror-jail from Superman 2, which I think would be a nice throw-back to the old movies.

Then, at the end, Superman’s on some beach with Lois and they’re about to do it when Superman gets a text from Batman that something called the Justice League is forming and they need him, and he leaves Lois who says some sexy shit like “I understand. Go. They need you.” They kiss and he flies off into the sunset.

As much as I love them, I think the entire trilogy has problems in the third act. It stands out especially in The Dark Knight because the first two thirds were so awesome. As soon as Two Face shows up and Batman starts hunting for the Joker with his super sonar, it does take a bit of a nose dive in quality.

Ya, I think the whole trilogy suffers from a common Nolan brothers problem, which is basically having a bunch of cool ideas and sweeping themes that inevitably don’t really come together neatly in the end.

The8BitLife: To be fair, the entire point of a neutron bomb is not to leave fallout. That’s why it earned the nickname “the capitalist’s bomb” because it would kill every living thing but leave property mostly intact.

I hope I didn’t read you right that comics are “weak source material”? Lots aren’t great, sure, but there’s some killer stuff as well (Brubaker’s Captain America run, Y the Last Man, Hellboy, Nextwave, 100 Bullets, to name a few). Like any other form of entertainment. Goes back to Sturgeon’s law: 90% of everything is crap. But that 10% makes it all worth it.

You comic book fans are so defensive. In this case, I meant more the weakness of a Superman 2 homage, which I believe this was meant to be, not comic books in general. Also, the cities in Superman were “Metropolis” and “Smallville,” which might be even worse than calling the element in Avatar “Unobtanium.” There’s good source material AND weak source material, adapting it well requires knowing the difference.

I don’t care if he fights an evil version of himself, or if he fights Richard Pryor, or whatever that giant spider thing is from the infamous Kevin Smith Superman anecdote. My point is, who wants to watch a superhero movie where there is NO “big fight”? And my question was not rhetorical. I am genuinely curious as to how you’d have preferred to see this movie end (largely due to the fact that I enjoyed the rest of your review, so my interest truly is piqued as far as how you would have taken the story).

Maybe I AM conditioned by the fact that I grew up reading comic books (although not so much Superman). Maybe I’m just a dumb ‘Murican who likes ‘splosions. But if I go to a comic book movie, yes, I’d like to see some kind of showdown with a villain. Superman has always represented a figure who FIGHTS for what he believes is right. Is it such a bad thing for an audience to want to see him actually do that very thing?

In a physical fight him being some dude with powers should always get his ass whipped by a professional soldier with the same powers.

Superman’s greatest victories are when he uses his powers and his intellect to defeat villains. You know what would have made an awesome movie? An adaptation of Elliot S! Maggin’s Miracle Monday. That is a great Superman story.

I agree with you, Martin, that the best Superman stories are when he uses his powers and his intellect against the villains. But there is still “the big showdown,” even in those stories.

And not to get too deep, but I actually liken Superman to the “volunteer soldiers” in WWII. They proved that someone who truly believes in what they are fighting for and have the intellect, willpower, and “never say die” mindset can triumph, even against “professional soldiers.”

But the climax is best served not fighting his mirror image, especially when at this point in his life he has to have so little experience using his powers in actual combat (and presumably no martial training, especially in how to do things like fighting while airborne) that versus a professional soldier the professional soldier should kick his ass.

I do appreciate that there is apparently a moment where Zod is exposed to the full brunt of going from zero to a million in terms of being bombarded by the full spectrum of sensory input that Kryptonians are capable of on Earth whereas Superman has had years to adapt. Edge, Superman.

But it’s a still a matter of skill. And I’ll buy the idea that the yellow sun’s effect giving Superman super physical attributes also heightens his mental powers (I really like that idea, actually) so that he can learn how to fight very, very quickly once exposed to it or just from reading Bruce Lee’s book on Jeet Kun Do. But then so could Zod.

Unless there’s also the idea that Superman is just more powerful because he’s spent years absorbing solar radiation vs. the new Kryptonians’ abilities of exposure for a couple hours/days. But then there wouldn’t be much of a fight with Zod, would there?

Ultimately it also cheapens anything that happens in the future. The idea of him being able to stop a small Kryptonian army cheapens what comes next. The idea of him stopping a threat to Earth that clearly kills millions cheapens the future. And to me, it really does make me question the idea of humans accepting him as a protector when his presence is a significant cause for them being in danger.

It’s like Vince says about internal logic. It starts to break down just thinking about it as a film, and as the first in what is intended to be one or more franchises.

Thinking of the scope of the kind of threat that comes to my mind about this film and who the villains are makes me wonder how a Justice League would work short of being another invasion of global scope (like how they apparently formed in this most recently rebooted DC Universe) because then what?

Superhero movies do not need to be excuses for what is, by all intents and purposes, a thinly veiled excuse for disaster porn. That’s what stopped me from seeing Avengers. Captain America 2 is being sold in interviews with its director as a 70s-era political thriller.

Yeah, right.

But I guarantee that somehow the climax of that movie is still going to come down to Chris Evans beating up Robert Redford. The only question is whether that set piece will be one on one or intercut with scenes of Sebastian Stan and Anthony Macky and Scarlett Johansson fighting George St. Pierre and a bunch of Hydra or {insert evil group here} goons.

The ideal way to make Supe films is to make him make moral compromises. Make him kill Doomsday. Make him have to make some sort of deal with Darkseid so that he can defeat Brainiac. Dude’s most interesting when, for whatever reason, he isn’t a boy scout.

He does what he has to do to save the humans of earth. If it means killing the bad guy and feeling horrible after and us seeing his dilemma unfold before our eyes is pretty powerful for a “comic book movie”

Hey Vince, I thought it was a great review and it’s actually convinced me to go see the movie (I also agree that there hasn’t been a good Superman movie yet), but I have a question that I’m hoping won’t seem like futile nerd rage: do you really hate comic books this much?

I mean, as a reader of both your site and comics, I think you actually like more comic book movies than I do at this point. I know you’ve said that you don’t read them and aren’t that interested, (which isn’t what bothers me, plenty of my friends feel the same way) but I think every review of your’s that I’ve read about superhero movies involves some sort of dig at the source material, regardless of how much you liked the movie. I might be oversensitive, but especially during the positive reviews it feels like it’s always “well I may have liked this movie, BUT DON’T WORRY GUYS COMICS STILL SUCK!”. It’s just words and pictures telling a story man, they aren’t automatically the nadir of storytelling.

I appreciate that like every movie they should be able to stand on their own (sequels or spinoffs, etc. aside), but it either matters or it doesn’t.

That said, Superman is a globally familiar character. The S symbol is one of the most recognizable logos around the world. The President of the United States has made Superman references/comparisons (and others of him) just about himself. People use the term, and they think about the character and not the more abstract überman concept.

And to that extent, what people know or think about the character and the idea matters because this a movie where virtually everyone comes into it with some preconception. Some like the superpowered Boy Scout. Some hate it. Some are indifferent and just like some or all of the powers. And someone’s vision had to win on to even start writing the script.

Likewise, he’s so familiar and ubiquitous that I at least appreciate Vince’s honesty in stating his bias going into the movie.

Oh I’ve got no problem with him talking about his feelings on the character, and I agree with him on a lot of his points. I’m curious about how much of a bias he has, because this review feels particularly heavy on “ugh, comics”.

How can you expect SUPERMAN to not be somewhat cheesey, its bound to happen no matter how badass the man is he wears a red and blue jumpsuit and a cape, has every power imaginable and his only weakness nobody really has any of. Its not fair to have that superhero exist, but when they created him there were not superheros for days like we have. The bar for these movies was never super high, I think this one was one of the best superhero movies of all time for me. It could have been better, but I feel like this origin started us off great for a sequel with a better, less alieny, plot.

To say I thought there was a strong possibility that movie-goers in my direct vicinity would be urinated on due to my excitement at seeing a Superman film realized in this day and age would be an understatement. It makes me sad and also somewhat pissed off to confirm that no one done got pissed on.

Even in the face of Michael Shannon’s Zod shouting “I will find him!!!”, even in the face of the obviously stunning visual effects and execution of Superman doing his Superman stuff (though a lot of that ended up entailing crashing through buildings and ripping up pavement?), even in the face of Cavill’s excellent casting as the man himself, and Russell Crowe’s fantastic portrayal of Jor-El, I was sorely disappointed. And I really, REALLY wanted to love this movie. Like, truly.

Kevin Costner did not come across to me as the Jonathan Kent I know. Dare I say he was kind of a dick with no basis for being a martyr. The score, or lack thereof was totally obsolete, and if I’m watching Superman fly through the air, or save innocent lives, I want to hear what everyone hums when they think of him. Maybe I’m just stuck in my old ways, maybe I’m just a huge loser who completely appreciated the optimistic approach to Superman that Christopher Reeve did justice to with his run, but I missed that, and I can’t help but think it was a mistake to allow Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder to get their dark, “realistic” (though admittedly exceptionally talented) hands on this character. Not to mention some of the dialogue was atrocious. Avoid “campy” at all costs, but not cheesy lines? I don’t get that.

I can totally appreciate a fresh approach to old ideologies, but that was taken way too far with this telling of the most iconic superhero of all time.

I will disagree with Costner. I thought he was great. I think he wasn’t a cheerleader for Clark, he wanted to keep him safe. He had no idea what his limits as a being were. The 80’s version, Jonathan Kent was teaching Clark how to find himself. In this version, Kent was trying to keep Clark hidden. Ultimately, he sacrificed himself to protect his son (like any good father would do). Except in this case, Clark could have saved him. It’s a noble act.

If he let clark save him, it would ruin everything he has to done to help protect him from the world. He would expose him, so he chose not to. It wasnt a basis for him to be a martyr, it was necessary for him to die, but to finish what he started for clark it was. To protect him plain and simple.

Usually I agree with you Vince, but this one bothered me. I know it sounds crazy, but I want my Superhero movies to have more realism. Maybe it’s the CGI special effects, or the grandiosity of them all, but I feel like they are always missing something vital that draws me in and makes me care. A couple things (*Spoilers*)

1.) It’s the little details that make a story more believable. I know this is nit-picky, but Jonathan Kent’s headstone said 1951 to 1997. 46 years old? Really? Maybe this is comic bookily accurate, but I believe Henry Cavill can fly (and do anything really cause he’s so pretty) more than I believe Kevin Costner looked like he was in his thirties and forties in those flashback scenes. Maybe they didn’t think anyone would notice, but I noticed and it took me out of the movie.
*See also the crew of Prometheus drinking Jay-Z’s brand of champagne.

2.) The idea that in these big actions movies there are just 3 or 4 guys (American, no less) in charge of stopping the destruction of the world just seems so lazy and Roland Emmerich.

Scientist: Hi I’m Steve, I’m the only scientist in the world and I’ve been assigned to this case of Aliens invading and killing us all.

Air Force Guy: Great Steve, I’m Bob and I’m in charge of the Air Force for the world, I will be assisting you as we are involved in every single aspect of this battle and then sacrifice ourselves at the end.

They show the Mongolians watching the Alien transmission in their Yert, but not a single other country in the world is ever present to help fight the bad guy.

3.) They destroyed the living f*ck out of New York and by the end I was just laughing. It was just an absolute ridiculous amount of destruction. When it was almost done they showed a shot that was reminiscent of the Pirate short at the beginning of The Meaning of Life- A dusty waste land of a city. Zod and Superman can fly, they couldn’t nip down to Phillie or up to Boston and destroy some of their shit?

The acting was great, it looked great, but… I don’t know. Maybe I’m too critical. Maybe Superhero movies aren’t for me. I used to like them though, back when they didn’t cost 200 Million plus dollars to make.

Yeah, I’m going to need some psychoanalysis of his performance. What was going on? I was nearly sobbing at one point. I like how movie dads always seem to be tinkering with engines whenever they’re watching their children goof about.

The absurd amount of destruction that they caused really bugged me. In the context of the movie because it’s like they’re saying, “Cool, I’ll save all your lives buuut I’m also gonna level entire cities in the process,” while on a broader level it was annoying because it felt very Michael Bay/Transformers-ie.

Also when the female soldier at the end said Superman was “kinda hot” it made my skin crawl. No soldier would talk that way.

The absurd amount of destruction that they caused really bugged me. In the context of the movie because it’s like they’re saying, “Cool, I’ll save all your lives buuut I’m also gonna level entire cities in the process,” while on a broader level it was annoying because it felt very Michael Bay/Transformers-ie.

Also when the female soldier at the end said Superman was “kinda hot” it made my skin crawl. No soldier would talk that way.

“Thus we’re left with an inspiring, beautiful origin story grafted onto an anti-climactic hero/villain showdown”
EXACTLY how I felt about it, Vince.
Also:
-Crying like a bitch at Father-son stuff (have a kid makes you a bitch, I’ve come to find)
-Clunky dialogue at times “Perry, I’m a Pulitizer Prize winning journalist!” Expository much?
-killing Zod? I’m not gonna go nerd on the whole ‘Superman doesn’t kill’ trope but couldn’t he have just flown up with Zod, zipped to the left, or farted in his chin-beard?
-The Jesus references. SUPERMAN CHRIST, that was so blatant! From the hanging on the cross float away from spaceship, to stained glass jesus over Clark’s shoulder and the hand reaching up into the light, I was looking for a priest to touch my wiener (i’d of course wear a helicopter beanie so it’d be okay).
-last 45 minutes. I feel like you could have cut in just about any Transformer action scene here and no one would have noticed.
-“Hey guys, let’s put a black hole right here in the middle of the city! YAAAY! Sucked into nothingness is FUUUUN!”
Anyway, I gotta go off and go back to being a sappy father-mess.

It really bugged me how over the top they were with the destruction of the cities. In the context of the movie it bothered me in that it’s like, “Cool, I’m going to save all your lives but oh yeah, in the process completely demolish the entire city.” Like seriously, you’re talking ten 9/11’s worth of ruin after those scenes. On a broader level too it sucked because it made it feel very Michael Bay/Transformer-ie.

Also when the female soldier said Superman was, “hot,” it made my skin crawl. No soldier would talk that way in that context.

But besides that, I really enjoyed the movie. As a not a huge Superman fan it hooked me completely.

I am not going to quibble about the movie. I felt very much similar to Star Trek: Into Darkness. I liked them both. Not life-altering, but entertaining.

Two things that stood out to me: 1. I HATE SHAKY CAM! My god did we need shaky cam in the beginning of the movie? 2.Looks like Jon Peters got his large mechanical spider. Kevin Smith must be eating a tub of vegetables in protest of that being included.

There were some good parts of the move, but it mostly was annoying. The destruction of buildings was so annoying. The fights with Zod and his crew were annoying. And the giant penis pods just blew me away.

I saw this today and I have no idea how you can give this movie a decent grade and not the latest Spider-man. Both have the same ol story told over again with all the mumbo jumbo about great power and great responsibility, but at least that movie had a cast with chemistry. This as just a mess. Amy Adams was totally wrong for Lois Lane, Superman was barely a character (Henry Cavill barely fucking talked the whole time… his past versions did most of it), and there was just a bunch of shit smashing together for awhile at the end just because they had the budget for it. It basically turned into Independence Day + The Hulk with a dash of the last fight scene from the shitty Matrix Revelations thrown in.

It really shouldn’t be that hard to make a great Superman movie. I know the character is pretty much not fair and has basically way too much power, but someone could just read some fucking Nietzche and realize that this dude has the ability to basically change all public policy around the world if he wanted to. Instead this Superman (and all the Human Beings in the movie) are fucking stupid and can’t figure out a coherent plan that doesn’t involve pointless sacrificial ramming into shit.

At least Henry Cavill looked the part, the score was good, Michael Shannon had good lines and a pretty (genetically) justified reason to be so pissed, and the three main parental actors all killed it in their scenes. That’s why I give this at least a C+.

And I just realized now that my last 2 posts have featured me defending the last Spider-Man, which wasn’t even an amazing movie. I just thought they built a solid foundation which the previous movies failed to do thanks to all the camp.

Also I like how at the end, everyone’s back to work the next week like normal. Like 9/11 x100 didn’t happen. Guess in this economy people are really that desperate to keep going about their business like an alien invasion didn’t happen. And also hire a guy who has basically no journalism experience onto the staff full time.

Zod has no motive? He was created with ancient Kryptonian DNA, it is literally encoded in him to protect Krypton, to preserve his race at any costs. He says something of that nature in the movie. Anyway, other than that, a really good write up.

I promised myself I would come back and read this review once I had seen the film, which I watched today, and boy am I glad I did. This is what its all about, the emotion of the film and you sir have poured your heart into this review. I agree with almost everything the sense of being stronger, the sense of surpassing undeniable odds. Honestly I think we all have that superman moment and they did a great job of drawing a parallel between actual super human feats and moments where us ordinary humans would put their lives on the line for something they believe in (Fishburne staying with the intern and the true blood vampire guy crashing the b-52 into the spaceship). I cannot agree more some scenes were just so emotional due to the message and what they mean.

Here is my take on Zod though, you wrote you don’t understand why he travelled across the universe to kill and I think it’s summoned up by his last monologue. He was created to defend Krypton. Thrust into a role his ancestors gave him and in his pursuit in achieving his goal of protecting Kryptonians he has given too much of himself to the task. An emotionless subject with undying faith that through honour he can save the planet and people he once held so dear. He crossed the line and it’s something we are all capable of which is both Mankind’s weakness and our strongest asset.

Vince really great work :)
cba to proof read what I just wrote its been a long and emotional day